I AGREE about smart metres, except water metres have saved me loads since the kids left home, so unless you have 10 kids, water metres are great
Well if that's the case, you better practice what yer preach and send the fecking 2 stroke to the scrap yard, that would be a positive statement for the environment.
with water meter if you are a low user then you do make gains unless you have leaks. In fact my in my current house, the bill was shockingly high compared to my previous haouse (also with meter) until we discovered the toilet flush was not fully closing; almost undetectable. I also receive appointment messager about fitting the smart meter but ignore them. One big problem for me is that the work is subcontracted out which is to say deniability, layering and not taking responsability if things go wrong as it has become customary in our modern age. IMO Electric cars are another con like diesel was, used by motorist to reduce their RFL or avoid congestion charge. 99.9% don't care about the environment. Battery production, life time & disposal has a big impact on the environment. Not to mention the cost of putting in the infrastructure. Bring alone fuel cell technoloy. Apparently a lot of hybrid drivers never bother to charge their batteries and only drive on petrol (those cars have crap petrol only fuel consumption). The reason for buying them is government (read tax payers) grant and lower BIK. I am a fan of PAYGO, water, gas, elect, and fost impostantly, fuel; scrap RFL
I've been flooded with 'Please make an appointment' messages from Scottish Power. If it weren't for laziness, I would have changed suppliers a couple of years ago. Remember that Scotland had a referendum to secede from Great Britain? My view was, 'If you don't want to be part of GB/UK, don't go taking my money for power.' A bit OTT I know.
Totally agree with you and I’m the first to admit that I have a petrol plug-in hybrid as a company car because of the tax situation. I previously had a Mazda 6 diesel and it was a far more economical and in my opinion ”Clean” option. Don’t get me wrong the c350e I now drive is a step above the Mazda, I plug it in every night and drive sensibly getting 52 mpg as an average from new over the 60,000 miles its done since May 2016. However, I’m in the same job doing the same miles and driving in the same manner as the 3 years I had the Mazda 6 for and that averaged 65 mpg over the 70,000 that covered. All that and not a whiff of smoke from the exhaust even when hoofed on the odd occasion - I’m not a saint. Unfortunately the way company car tax is in the uk the chancellor was taking the piss because it was a diesel. So a no brainer to not go plug-in. My colleague followed the same thought process and changed his Mazda 6 diesel for a Volvo v40 (or maybe a v60, irrelevant) which is a diesel plug-in, but he can’t charge it anywhere either home or work. Does similar miles and enjoys the same tax structure as I (theirs no particulate penalty for the diesel element as its a plug-in as well) but he only averages 35 mpg as he only ever runs on diesel and the 2.2 litre under the bonnet has to pull the standard car along with all the dead weight of batteries and electric motors etc. As a consequence that smokes like a bas#### under any strain - what a complete joke. Charging the hybrid out and about is a none starter - can’t do it at work as the landlord is a total dick and won’t put a weather proof 13amp socket on the car park (let alone a charger). Motorway services etc charge £5 for the electric it takes over an hour and the car will only do 14 miles on pure electric. So it makes more sense to put £5 of petrol in (taking a couple of minutes) and get the say 45 miles of range.
Perhaps that is a major drawback for many Leccy owners - not having sufficient facilities/infrastructure to re-charge. It will take time.
It’ll get a lot worse before it gets anywhere near better and in the meantime the tax man is now going after the PHEV’s - if your company car is a perk then fine, but when it’s a tool of your job it’s an absolute p### take.
Sorry @Lozzy but not changing suppliers will have cost you a fortune over that time. You can change suppliers without going to a smart meter and in my experience it’s not been a hassle. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but every couple of years when my deals up I switch or get the existing to do a better offer. Same with insurance (car, house, bike, etc) if you don’t change or challenge the renewal at least they’ll have the shirt off your back.
I don't care...I'd rather spend my money than count it...my energy quarterly bills are rarely over £60 each I'm too busy enjoying life to be sat at home making the dials whirr around
Bloody hell. I'm thinking candles, no hot food, hand washing, no hair dryer, mini fridge, one hour of heating in winter . . .
Actually that got me thinking & I've just looked at my annual usage that came the other day for leccy which I don't normally do lol and it works out roughly 80 quid a quarter now ...no wonder I'm having to buy smaller chippy portions.... Just off to Oxfam shop to buy a big granny woolly jumper f' me & the mutt
I'm still well impressed at £80 a quarter - I shop around and spend about that a fortnight . Bloody kids/wife and their games consoles, hair straighteners, hair dryers, washing machine, tumble dryer
My bills keep getting estimated and if I enter the reading I'm basically called a liar saying they haven't changed enough! Waiting for my electric to be signed off before I can let them fit a smart meter and my gas is turned off atm as last time my plumber came to test the central heating the boiler went pop
I came home one day and the missus said "look what the gas board have fitted. plugged in my socket was a smart meter that I was now paying to run ( can't see anything smart in that). then I said "turn on the kitchen lights" ( 8 halogen bulbs) watch the meter go up, " right " I said " are you going to turn them off because the meter was going up" " no" she said unplugged the meter and put it in the bin no more running costs of that. the only reason they want you to have one is to save them money on meter readers wages but the bill has not gone down apologies for the rant don' t bother is my advise
Very interesting, Bazz. I had never factored in the cost of the device. In fact I had never even thought of it as needing a power source, but of course it's obvious. I suppose the suppliers response to that to overcome any objection would be along the usual lines of a small price to pay for the greater savings you'll achieve. In the words of Shania Twain: That Don't Impress Me Much.
LOL I said before on here and I will repeat for those who may wish to check it out, I use the Flipper service, yes it costs £25 quid but they do all the leg work in terms of finding the best tariff....my bill has 'come down' to a mere £90 a month combined fuel ...still the cheapest around (was over £120 p/m) I have to send the meter readings off every month but that takes only a few minutes.
Mine is duel at £60 a fortnight but we do get a rebate of about £100 a quarter. But we do live in a very draftie council house
